The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-12
A QUEER CREATURE.

A QUEER CREATURE.
Jean ROGET Tells of the Peculiarities of
His Physical ake-Up.
A dispatch from Wabash, Ind, to the
Cincinnati Enquirer says: The people of
Wabash will not soon forget the awful heat
of last Saturday and Sunday, when the
brassy skies looked down upon the white
limestone which glowed in the hot sunshine
and sent up currents of heat if anything
more unhearable than the burning rays
that descended from above On the
evening of that sweltering Saturday your
correspondent met being SO strange and
out OF harmony with his surroundings that
a repetition of his wonderful story can not
fail to interest the reader, even though that
reader may take no thought of it's scientific
phase, which, if it has a counterpart in the
whole world of experience, is unknown to
the writer. Just at dark the writer, as he
was passing the Wabash depot, trying in
every possible way to keep cool, noticed "a
large-sized man standing near the depot
building, apparently just arrived on an in
coming train He looked like a laboring
man, and would not have attracted atten ton
anywhere except for one thing: He was
dressed in heavy winter clothing, such as no
sane man would have worn with the Their
mometer at 96', as it was then. Was he
AN invalid, whose blood was too thin and
poor to be affected by the terrible heat, in
common with his fellowss He was too
vigorous and healthy looking, and that the
DRY had to be abandoned. Was he tramp,
whose wardrobe did not afford Il hot weather
SUITE He did not look like a tramp; be-
sides, he had on surplus clothing, even to an
overcoat that he might have carried He
did not look heated. On the other hand,
he had much the appearance of a man
chilled and suffering with the cold. HIS
oyercoat collar was turned up about his
ears and his hands were thrust deep into
his pockets. The Enquirer correspondent
had not watched him long until he grew
curious and concluded to investigate the
phenomenon. He accordingly took a
position near the stranger and remarked.
while he famed himself vigorously with his
straw hat "'Tis warm tonight" $50
they tell me, replied the man in broken
English, with mixture of French; Il do
not know"
"But you certainly do not have to be told
that it is hot tonight said the correspond
ent, who was family suspicious that the
stranger was trying to guy" him. A
closer inspection, however, showed him that
the man was not suffering from heat,
warmly as he was dressed, for there was
not particle of perspiratlon about him.
II have not been warm since last winter,
except when | was by warm stove OF in
bed, said the stranger in a serious tone
that banished the idea that he was joking.
mime is a strange caSe,n he continued
would you care to hear it, it is not long"
II should certainly like to hear the
history of man who is not warm tonight,
dressed as you are in heavy woolens," said
your correspondent.
''Well, then, was born forty-two years
ago this month in a northern province of
France, i'll Alsace, of peasant parentage.
There is nothing in my history that is of
interest, but there is something in me that
has interested many-a popularity that has
puzzled science and that is without
parallel in the whole world, SO far as |
know or have ever heard. The popularity
consists in the fact that when others are
warm | am cold, and vice versa. | shiver
with cold under July sun, and swelter
with heat amid the SHOWS of winter. Ny
name is Jean ROGET, and my father was q
lahOrer in a brewery in Alsace, and had
large family, of which | was the youngest,
except one, a sister, who was born three
years later. None of my brothers or sisters
possessed my popularity. Ny mother first
discovered that | was not like other chill
dren when | was about one year and half
old, before | can myself remember. Ny
parents and the neighbors were greatly
puzzled at the phenomena, but not more so
than were the scientific men who examined
me in later years. / was the wonder of our
neighborhood as | grew up, for while other
children i'll winter went about i'll heavy
wOOlens, and shivered with cold at that, |
played by the roadside wearing thin summer
clothing. while my body was flushed with
heat, and my face suffused with perspira-
ton When summer came again, and birds
sang, and the suns fierce rays beat upon the
white roads of AlSace, and my little com
panions frolicked upon the green sward and
waded the brook, | cried with the cold and
sought warmth indoors. The seasons were
Just reversed for me-"
"But when you touched the ice and snow,
were they not cold to youw was asked.
! Eyes, as they would be to you in the sum-
mer time. The frozen ground, too, was
cold, but the icy atmosphere that swept
over it was as sitting to me as a sirocco.
What was most peculiar, perhaps, was the
fact that the lower the thermometer sunk
the warmer | got, and the higher it arose
the colder it seemed to me. To prove to
you that this is not imagination with me,
feel of my hand" said the stranger The
scribe touched it. 1t was as cold as ice, and
the mercury stood at So.
81 lived in Alsace until about ten years
ago when came to this country to work
ut my trade, that of a stone-cutter | have
lived in Jersey City until few days ago,
when started West. | am unmarried, and
have never had a sick day in my life, That
is my history, and, as you see, uueventful
enough, except for this popularity in my
physical makeup, which turns winter into
summer and balny summer into dread
winter"
But can you think of no explanation
for this phenomena! What do scientific
men say of itr
Nothing that is not guess-work. 1t is
said that few days before | was born the
hot July weather in Alsace was broken in
upon by severe storm, in which the
elements were strangely mixed. Thunder
and lightning, combined with hail and even
snow, swept in a furious torrent over
Alsace, and continued for more than
twenty-four hours. Scientists connect the
storm with my birth in explanation of my
regularity. But, after all, that explana-
ton rests upon improved theory. | only
know the fact. do not attempt to explain
it,"
Your correspondent saw the fact, and
was himself amazed to see man who could
SO easily defy the power Of Old Soils in
fluence